Natasha Lomas
Writer
The Latest from Natasha Lomas
Reddit links UK-US trade talk leak to Russian influence campaign
Reddit has linked account activity involving the leak and amplification of sensitive UK-US trade talks on its platform during the ongoing UK election campaign to a suspected Russian political influenc
No Libra-style digital currencies without rules, say EU finance ministers
European Union finance ministers have agreed to a de facto ban on the launch in the region of so-called global “stablecoins” such as Facebook’s planned Libra digital currency until t
Facebook launches a photo portability tool, starting in Ireland
It’s not friend portability, but Facebook has announced the launch today of a photo transfer tool to enable users of its social network to port their photos directly to Google’s photo stor
European parliament’s NationBuilder contract under investigation by data regulator
Europe’s lead data regulator has issued its first ever sanction of an EU institution — taking enforcement action against the European parliament over its use of US-based digital campaign c
Brexit ad blitz data firm paid by Vote Leave broke privacy laws, watchdogs find
A joint investigation by watchdogs in Canada and British Columbia has found that Cambridge Analytica-linked data firm, Aggregate IQ, broke privacy laws in Facebook ad-targeting work it undertook for
Gift Guide: STEM toys for your builders-in-training
We've refreshed our annual STEM toy gift guide with the latest wares clamoring to entice and inspire kids with coding tricks and electronic wizardry. Yes folks! Another year, another clutch of shiny g
Uber has again been denied licence renewal in London over safety risks
Two months after being given a two-month reprieve on its licence to operate in London, Uber has once again been denied a full renewal by the city’s transport regulator — which said today t
Watch Sacha Baron Cohen skewer Zuckerberg’s ‘twisted logic’ on hate speech and fakes
Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has waded into the debate about social media regulation. In an award-acceptance speech to the Anti-Defamation League yesterday, the creator of Ali G and Borat delivered a pr
Amnesty International latest to slam surveillance giants Facebook and Google as ‘incompatible’ with human rights
Human rights charity Amnesty International is the latest to call for reform of surveillance capitalism — blasting the business models of “surveillance giants” Facebook and Google in
VEnvirotech transforms organic waste into bioplastics
After a year of testing out environmental technologies for a private company, co-founder Patricia Ayma developed a process for bioplastic production using bacteria. The system turns organic matter, su
Invasive scheme spotted that foxes tracker blockers
Online privacy is facing a new challenge: A first-party tracker that appears to be unblockable with standard privacy tools such as adblockers. The tracker in question was spotted being deployed by Fre
Sweden drops rape investigation into WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange
Sweden has dropped an investigation into WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, on allegations of suspected rape. In a statement today the country’s prosecution authority said the evidence has ̶
A 10-point plan to reboot the data industrial complex for the common good
A posthumous manifesto by Giovanni Buttarelli, who until his death this summer was Europe’s chief data protection regulator, seeks to join the dots of surveillance capitalism’s rapacious c
Microsoft announces changes to cloud contract terms following EU privacy probe
Chalk up another win for European data protection: Microsoft has announced changes to commercial cloud contracts following privacy concerns raised by European Union data protection authorities. The ch
Fertility startup Mojo wants to take the trial and error out of IVF
Fertility tech startup Mojo is coming out of stealth to announce a €1.7 million (~$1.8M) seed round of funding led by Nordic seed fund Inventure. Also participating are Doberman and Privilege Ventur
More layoffs at pivoting London ed tech startup pi-top
London ed tech startup pi-top has gone through another round of layoffs, TechCrunch has learned. Pi-top confirmed that eight jobs have been cut in the London office, saying the job losses resulted fro
PR pitch to Ola reveals the inner workings of UK ride-hailing politics
A UK PR firm pitching to run an account for Ola has proposed running a campaign to politicize ride-hailing as a tactic to shift regulations in its favor. The approach suggests that, despite the appear
Messaging app Wire confirms $8.2M raise, responds to privacy concerns after moving holding company to the US
Big changes are afoot for Wire, an enterprise-focused end-to-end encrypted messaging app and service that advertises itself as “the most secure collaboration platform”. In February, Wire q
Dutch court orders Facebook to ban celebrity crypto scam ads after another lawsuit
A Dutch court has ruled that Facebook can be required to use filter technologies to identify and pre-emptively take down fake ads linked to crypto currency scams that carry the image of a media person
Deliveroo launches food orders for pickup
Don’t Deliveroo . The U.K.-based on-demand food delivery service has expanded into not actually delivering orders by offering users a pickup option, called “Pickup,” as an alternativ